Doctors' ignorance on DVT

25 percent of individuals who develop thrombus after flying are wrongly diagnosed by doctors, a professional stated yesterday.

Sufferers of deep vein thrombosis are now being sent away with bandages, orders to find therapy or just have a hot bath.

The problem, frequently known as economy class syndrome because it's been associated with cramped seating on lengthy-haul plane tickets, is thought to result in as much as 2,000 deaths annually in great britan.

But Dr Farroll Kahn, from the Aviation Health Institute in Oxford, stated many patients worrying of signs and symptoms appeared to be sent away with bad advice.

'Far too frequently, life-threatening thrombus are now being skipped,' he stated. 'Unnecessary deaths are happening.

'The condition is hard to identify and for that reason many errors happen to be and therefore are being produced by Gps navigation and hospital doctors.'

There's been growing alarm over the specter of DVT on longhaul plane tickets.

Air carriers are facing compensation claims for countless pounds from vacationers declaring to possess experienced the problem.

However the companies argue it's not particularly associated with flying and may occur anywhere where individuals are immobile for extended periods.

Dr Kahn stated it had been crucial that any patient worrying of signs and symptoms went through ultrasound scans which may get clots.

Indicators are sudden swelling, enlargement from the superficial veins, red-blue discolouration or skin that's warm to touch.

Bursts of sweating or sudden pallor are occasionally signs and symptoms of DVT, while persistent chest discomfort and shortness of breath can signal a lung embolism - a clot which has gone to live in the lung.

John Scurr, an advisor surgeon at College College School Of Medicine and also the Lister Hospital, London, thinks the amount of clots being skipped was less than 2 yrs ago because of the publicity about DVT.

However the disadvantage to which was that some doctors might be dismissive because more patients were worrying they may possess a clot when they don't.

• Money-saving tactics by air carriers, for example cutting quality of air in passenger cabin rentals and flying at greater altitude, is putting passengers' health in danger, states the Consumers' Association. Some information mill recycling half the environment within the cabin instead of using 100 percent fresh, in order to save fuel, and flying greater to visit faster.

The CA states this can be a particular threat to women that are pregnant, the seniors and incredibly youthful, who may find it difficult to get oxygen in to the blood stream on lengthy-haul plane tickets.

Bugs may accumulate, threatening multiplication of significant conditions for example t . b, it claims.